The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

"
22 THE STOIC CREED
and which would yield inward and abiding peace in the
midst of the exceptional difficulties and trials that were
inseparable from the exigencies of the times, was one
great object that Stoicism served, and for the accom
plishment of which it was consciously called into
existence. This so far explains some of its distinctive
positions particularly, its doctrines of Providence and
the true nature and source of human happiness. It
explains also, in part, how Ethics became to it the
supreme and all - important science ; speculation,
physical and metaphysical, being subordinated thereto.
Ariston of Chios even went the length of saying that
dialectical arguments are like cobwebs, which,
although they seem to weave something artistic, are
useless (Diog. Laert. vi. 2).
That might stand as a
motto for Bacon and for Locke.
But the personal character, natural temperament,
and intellectual training
of its great
founders had also
their marked influence.
We can clearly discern, throughout the whole term
of the existence of Stoicism as a separate philosophical
school, traces of the austerity and simplicity of life that
characterized the Semitic Zeno ;
of the deep religious
spirit, anchored on physical speculation, that dis
tinguished Cleanthes ;
of the hard logical reasoning
and subtle dialectic that was conspicuous in the selfconfident
and redoubtable Chrysippus. Moreover, the
period of years, whether twenty or ten (the number is
disputed), spent by Zeno, in preparation for his work
of teaching, in the various Greek schools Cynic,
Megaric, Academic, Peripatetic was not without its